who said: Abū al-Zubayr informed me that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say this. Ibn Lahīʿah also corroborated him, from Abū al-Zubayr, with the same report. It was narrated by Aḥmad (3/345) and al-Bukhārī in al-Tārīkh (3/1/451).
- “A group from my Ummah will continue to prevail over the people. Allah will stir the hearts of certain people to fight them, and Allah will provide them from them until Allah’s command comes while they remain in that state. Indeed, the heartland of the believers is Syria, and goodness will remain tied to the forelocks of horses until the Day of Resurrection.”
Aḥmad narrated it (4/104) through Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, from Ibrāhīm ibn Sulaymān, from al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jurashī, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, who said that Salamah ibn Nufayl informed them that he came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: “I have grown weary of horses, thrown down my weapons, and war has laid down its burdens. I said: ‘There is no fighting.’” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him: “Now fighting has come. A group will continue …,” to the end of the hadith.
This is a good Syrian chain of transmission; all its narrators have been declared trustworthy. It has also been narrated through another route from al-Jurashī with the wording: “A group from my Ummah will continue …” Its mention has preceded under hadith no. 1935.
- “A group from my Ummah will continue to uphold Allah’s command; those who oppose them will not harm them.”
Ibn Mājah narrated it (1/7) through Abū ʿAlqamah Naṣr ibn ʿAlqamah, from ʿUmayr ibn al-Aswad and Kathīr ibn Murrah al-Ḥaḍramī, from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet. This is a good chain of transmission, Allah willing. Its narrators are those of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from Naṣr ibn ʿAlqamah, who has been declared trustworthy; in al-Taqrīb, he is described as “acceptable.” The hadith has another route which has already been mentioned with the wording: “This matter will never cease …”